Archaeologists have discovered an 1,800-year-old carved stone head believed to be that of a Geordie Roman god, buried in an ancient rubbish dump.
The discovery was made at Binchester Roman Fort, near Bishop Auckland in Durham County, England. Nineteen-year-old archaeology student from Durham University Alex Kirton found the artifact, which measures about 20 cm by 10 cm, in buried late Roman rubbish within what was probably a bath house. The sandstone head, which dates from the 2nd or 3rd century AD, has been likened to the Celtic deity Antenociticus, thought to have been worshipped as a source of inspiration and intercession in military affairs. A similar sandstone head, complete with an inscription identifying it as Antenociticus, was found at Benwell, in Newcastle upon Tyne, in 1862. “We found the Binchester head close to where a small Roman altar was found two years ago. We think it may have been associated with a small shrine in the bath house and dumped after the building fell out of use, probably in the 4th century AD,” Dr David Petts, Lecturer in Archaeology at Durham University, said.
“It is probably the head of a Roman god — we can’t be sure of his name, but it does have similarities to the head of Antenociticus found at Benwell in the 19th century.
“We may never know the true identity of this new head, but we are continuing to explore the building from which it came to help us improve our understanding of late Roman life at Binchester and the Roman Empire’s northern frontier in Northern England,” said Petts.
Antenociticus is one of a number of gods known only from the northern frontier, a region which seems to have had a number of its own deities, researchers said.
“It’s also an excellent insight into the life and beliefs of the civilians living close to the Roman fort. The style is a combination of classical Roman art and more regional Romano-British traditions. It shows the population of the settlement taking classical artistic traditions and making them their own,” they said.
“As an archaeology student this is one of the best things and most exciting things that could have happened,” Alex said.
“It was an incredible thing to find in a lump of soil in the middle of nowhere — I’ve never found anything remotely exciting as this,” he added.